Ten weeks ago, this quartile seemed to be very easy, at least easier then my first quartile this year. Just two exams and one project to complete. Only one of the three subjects was seemed hard, namely ADC (Algorithms, Data structures and Complexity). The others subjects were Operating Systems and Software Engineering Models. The latter didn’t have an exam, there was only a project.

As the quartile got on, this proportion seemed correct. Operating Systems did have hard lab work, but was, with the help of the teaching assistants, not impossible. ADC turned out to be hard, but not much time was required to keep up with the subject matter. SEM only had a lab in the first four weeks, so I had plenty of time to do…. well, nothing interesting.

This, however, turned out different from what I expected. SEM’s lab work took more time every week and in the 4th week, the project started. ADC announced homework and Operating Systems… well, the lab work didn’t get easier. Furthermore, the Symposium Commission (where I’m chairman of and to be abbreviated ‘SymCie’ from now on) started in the last week before Christmas .

Above all, Antagonist’s success is increasing daily and it’s hard to keep up with all the e-mail that arrives. Wouter, the founder of Antagonist, has just written an interesting post at his blog about this success. As a side note, I’m glad I’m working for this successful company and that I’m part of this success.

After Christmas, work on SEM’s project continued and I started to realize the amount of work related with this project. I also begun reading the books of ADC and Operating Systems. As I progressed, I started to realize my big misjudgment – ADC is quite easy if you get what recursive programming is. Operating Systems, on the other hand, isn’t easy at all. The introduced algorithms are only a very small part of this subject; its small facts are far more important (too important if you ask me).

It was too late to re-study all this matter, so I put my money on ADC and SEM. ADC’s exam was quite doable and I most likely failed Operating Systems. Currently, I’m working on SEM’s project which has to be completed by Monday. As I don’t have any exams left, I (and my co-worker Peter-Paul) are working as much as we can to get a high grade (as much as 25 hours a day). That’s where this post’s title refers to: SEB normally means ‘Study Evasive Behaviour’, but for me (and Ronald) the S currently stands for ‘SEM’.

However, in the last two weeks, being only busy with my study, I realized that I’m quite lucky. I’m working at a successful company where the word ‘financial meltdown’ isn’t in the vocabulary. And until now, I didn’t have to do any subject over.

I also learned some important things last year, not only on the domain of Computer Science. I won’t ever pay in advance for big things like televisions anymore. I won’t cross any road without knowing for sure that I won’t crash into another car. And I learned to enjoy my life. Just do what you want, and don’t do anything you don’t want.

To make a long story short, I’m glad this quartile is about to finish. Next Monday, however, a new quartile starts, with more work then ever. I have to complete three subjects, work on the SymCie will take more time, my work at Antagonist will continue and I’ll be a teaching assistant at Programming 2.

I, however, don’t care how much work this is. I know I won’t be able to play any game on my PlayStation for some months, but if I finish all this stuff, I’ll be very satisfied. And work will start all over again.